Fluorescent tube lamps are widely used in a variety of locations, such as schools and office buildings. Although conventional fluorescent lamps have certain advantages over, for example, incandescent lamps, they also pose certain disadvantages including, inter alia, disposal problems due to the presence of toxic materials within the glass tube.
Led-based tube lamps, or LED tubes, which can be used as one-for-one replacements for fluorescent tube lamps, have appeared in recent years. Such LED-based replacement lamps include an elongate housing having arranged therein LEDs mounted on a circuit board. An end cap is arranged at each longitudinal end of the housing. The end caps generally include a molded plastic cup-shaped body that slides over the end of the housing to secure the end cap to the housing. Additionally, each end cap can include one or more connector pins for electrically and/or mechanically connecting the replacement lamp with standard fluorescent lamp fixtures. For example, many end caps carry two connector pins for compatibility with fixtures designed to receive standard-sized tubes, such as T5, T8, T10 or T12 tubes and having standardized lamp holders, such as G5 and G13.
One problem when replacing a fluorescent tube lamp with a LED-based replacement lamp is the potential hazardous contact with the exposed connector pins during, for example, installation or relamping. In order to make a LED tube work with lamp fixtures designed for fluorescent tube lamps, a current path has to be provided between connector pins on either end of the LED tube. Accordingly, if the lamp fixture is energized when one end of the LED tube is plugged into the fixture and the LED tube is turned, it is possible that electrical current may flow through the body of the person installing the lamp to ground. Specifically, if one or more pins are exposed while at least one other pin is in electrical contact with the fixture, the person may experience electrical shock if they come in contact with the pins.